The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1887-01-20
OOMANOHE, TEX.
An Interesting Letter by a Former Resi-
dent Of Pulaski.

uout VI ulaSkls
To the CITIZEN.
Having a little leisure during
the holidays l thought 1 would
write letter to The CITIZEN, re-
membering that used to enjoy
letters in it from Giles county folks
who had gone to other places snd
took that means Of letting their
friends hear from them. l have
now been here nearly five months
and can Of course give only a par
tial experience When l came in
August there had been no rain,
to make season, for fourteen
months. The grass and crops ex
cept cotton looked as dead as they
do now. There were partial rains
during the latter part of Angus,
which brought out fall crop OF
grass and helped to mako halt
crop OF cotton where i. had been
worked. Cotton that had been
worked once made about half bale
per acre. The grass that looked
perfectly dead uncurled Itself ano
became green in very few days
1t grew to about six inches high
and as the moisture left the ground
it turned brown and curled up
again. They call it mesquite.
This is all the cattle have to ca
this winter until the grass grows
again. For two months the whole
country has looked as bare as Fort
Hill IN December, and yet the cat
tie are tat. We have as good bee!
As the best sold in Pulaski a: any
time of the year. The butchers buy
The cattle, generally cows, at ten
dollars apiece and sell the beef a,
five to seven cents. A man with
one of these desert looking ranches
with about seven hundred cattle
told me that this was a fine winter
for grazing and that if the winter
was open enough the cattle would
come through fat. 1t seems that
grass is the only crop that can be
relied upon with certainty. Cotton
is next as it will delay maturing
for longer time than most crops
until it gets lain. The top crop
this year was half of the whole. AS
tar as climate to live in is concern.
ed a man might 60 farther and fare
worse. From the middle of Sep
TENDER to Christmas it has seemed
to me the perfection of climate
The doctors say that it is too dry
for health and the thought of this
detracts from ones enjoyment, but
the sky is clear, there is no mud,
the winds, while they are some
times bold, have never been raw OF
biting owing to the absence OF
dampness. The people complain
of the northers and put on theil
overcoats and shiver, but l have
not felt cold yet. / suppose / will
get to be like the rest. A northel
is only the frazzled end of storm
which is prevailing in Kansas OIL
Colorado at the time. As l heard
an old Texan express it, "ThanA
the Lord, some people are a grear
deal worse off than we are"
Besides beef the people have as {
rule bread and pork. A hog and
homeny dict seems to be accepted
and stoically endured as an inevita
Bile accompaniment of Texas life
A great many people don't try t.
raise vegetables and they are to(
dear for them to buy so they dt
without. They take the scurvy il
consequence and being poorly nour
ished they fall an easy prey to dis
ease. By the principle of the sur
vival of the fittest, and owing to tn,
restless habits of the old resident
the population changes more rapid
| ly than in older states. If the rail
road reaches US this year, as ex-
pected, l look for half of the popu-
lation to change, simply becaus
they can sell. When this countr,
is settled by people who will b
content with two or three hundre'
acres of land and will plant or
chards and vineyards and dig tank
and put up windmills to irrigat
their truck patches, they will sta
and be we'll contented.
An acquaintance of mine has a
: irrigated piece OF land and he raise
: two good gardens year. His veg
etables are preferred by purchaser
to those shipped from st. Louis be
cause they are fresh. M.